A Tribute to The Paddington Express, Terry Downes
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
2017 has brought the loss of two great former world middleweight champion, Jake LaMotta and Terry Downes, from the old school of boxing when the raw aggressive fighting style was used to slug it out with every opponent, to the delight and roar of the crowd.
Known as ‘The Paddington Express’, Downes, 81, was Great Britain’s oldest former champion. He held the world middleweight championship for ten months between 1961 and 1962, and had a record of 35-9 with 27 knockouts between 1957 and 1964 which included a 10 round decision win over Sugar Ray Robinson.
After three matches with Paul Pender, in which Downes won the world middleweight title in the second match before losing it back to Pender in the third match, Downes moved up to light heavyweight. He won seven straights bouts, before a loss to Willie Pastrano in a WBC and WBA light heavyweight world title bout caused Terry to retire for good. Downes worked occasionally as an actor after retirement, and was married for 59 years. He is survived by his wife and four children. Despite being British, Downes served in the United States Marines Corps. from 1954 to 1956, where he won trophies as an amateur boxer and gained valuable ring experience, before returning to his native Paddington, England, and turning professional with a first-round knockout over Peter Longo in 1957. In his third professional bout, he was stopped by future world middleweight champion Dick Tiger.
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